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07MIC95.TXT
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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE JULY 1995 ISSUE OF MICROPENDIUM
P.O. BOX 1343 ROUND ROCK TX 78680
Microreviews for July 1995 Micropendium
by Charles Good
----------------
TI WORKSHOP by DataBioTics
When this module was released in 1987 by DataBioTics few
purchased it, and it disappeared into obscurity. It was listed in the
Spring/Summer and the Fall 1988 Triton catalogs under the name Magic
Memory. Now TexComp Ltd. (the new TexComp) is again offering this
unique product. The module is unique because it is the largest module
software ever produced for the 99/4A. Inside is 64K of rom, bank
switched 8K at a time into the console's cartridge rom (or ram) area
at >6000 - >7FFF.
TI workshop is a combination disk manager, sector editor, and
assembly language program development environment. Program
development software includes a text editor designed specifically for
writing assembly source code, an assembler, a disassembler, a
debugger, and a memory viewer/editor. All of this is in the
cartridge, accessable from a very well designed menu system. It is
very easy to bounce back and forth between one workshop application
and another such as between the memory editor and the debugger. No
disk based software (such as the TI e/a editor or assembler or
superbug debugger) is used. You do, however, need a disk system to
load and save source files and assembled code and you need a 32K
memory expansion. A printer is nice too. From anywhere in the
workship you can do a screen dump. You can of course print entire
source files and there is a large variety of printing options relating
to the assembly and disassembly of assember code.
The disk manager is really first rate, resembling DM1000 in its
capabilities but better than DM1000 because it links directly with a
sector editor. Even normal 99/4A users who are not assembly
programmers will find this cartridge disk manager convenient and very
useful. I use it when my Horizon ramdisks crash to help me reload the
ramdisk ROS and, if necessary load my files back on to the ramdisks.
I have disk managers on my ramdisks, but they are useless if the
ramdisk locks up.
TI Planner's Disk Manager is compatible with drives 1-9 and
randisks that are at any CRU address. You can page back and forth on
screen within a directory listing without first having to move the
cursor to the top or bottom of the displayed page. You can mark all
files for copying, protecting, unprotecting, or deleting with a single
keystroke, or you can do this individually from a disk directory. The
directory lets you separately mark each file on the disk with up to
three commands and then execute all the commands. File commands
include Copy, Delete, Edit (loads DV or DF80 file into editor), Find
(switches to sector editor and lets you view/edit sectors containing
the file), Load (an EA5 or EA3 file which will then run), Move
(copies, then deletes file from source), Output (text file to
printer), Protect, Rename, Temp (temporarily unprotects a file so an
action such as Rename can occur then protects file again), and
Unprotect. Disk Utilities of the disk manager include Copy (sector
copying with or without bitmap), Erase (sweep), Initialize, and Format
A Bunch (box format).
Memory manager lets you Show Dump Edit Initialize (fill
designated memory with the same data byte) Copy (from one area of
memory to another) and Search. You can do these things with VDP and
CPU memory, but you can't check on Grom memory. You can also set a
CRU bit at any CRU address to activate the peripheral at that address.
This allows you to manipulate the memory of the device's DSR. For
example, I have a CorComp disk controller. If I select "CRU Bit
Control" from memory manager (or from several other places within TI
Workshop) I can activate the disk controller's DSR. First I type
1100, the address of the DSR. Then I change the first address at this
location to >0001 to turn on the DSR. I can then page through the
CorComp disk controller's DSR and get a display and/or printout in
both hex and ascii. I notice that part of this DSR code says in ascii
"c Miller Graphics", which verifies that Craig Miller wrote the
CorComp disk controller DSR code.
You can also manipulate extended VDP memory if you have an 80
column card. Such cards have much more than 16K of VDP memory with
the extra memory going beyond the normal >3FFF where console VDP
memory ends. TI Workshop lets you manipulate this extra memory if you
have it.
The Debugger is a menu based modification of Edgar Dohman's
Superbug II. In fact Mr. Dohman is credited as the author of most
parts of TI Workshop. You can view and set all the registers, set and
list breakpoints, single step or slow execute (3 instructions per
second), and execute at regular speed based on where you set the
program counter register.
Disassembly has all sorts of screen display and/or printer
options. You can activate a DSR, copy the DSR code to a safe memory
location, and then disassemble the DSR code as if this code was still
resident at the DSR location (>4000 - >5FFF). The instruction book
has a Debugger and Disassembler tutorial. You are given some sample
code to enter and told what to expect as the Debugger and Disassembler
do their thing.
The source code editor resembles the TI EA module editor with
some enhancements. Tab settings are more convenient, there are more
convenient text manipulation features, amd there is a true lower case
character set. An automatic mode is available that gives auto tabs
and capitalization in columns 1-25, very handy for distinguishing
comments from actual assembly source code.
The assembler has some print options besides the usual R, C. and
L choices of the TI assembler. The most interesting of these is
Cross Reference. This gives you a printed list of program labels,
line numbers where the labels occur, and line numbers where the label
is referenced.
The cartridge comes with a very detailed 60+ page user guide.
One of the appendixes in this manual is unusual. It tells you how to
permanently backup and customize TI Planner. Just trot out your TI
eprommer (everybody has one, right?), open up the cartridge, remove
the eprom from its socket and copy it to disk. Now you can make a few
changes here and there as suggested in the appendix and then save your
customized TI Planner back to a new eprom.
This is an expensive cartridge, $49.95, but it is an expensive
cartridge for TexComp Ltd. to manufacture. The 64K eprom isn't cheap.
Also copying costs for the large user guide are not insignificant. TI
Planner is a product that all assembly programmers should consider.
It offers the assembly programmer seamless access to a combination of
features found nowhere else in a single software package, sort of like
Miller Graphics Advanced Diagnostics, Explorer, and Diskassembler all
combined into one easily accessable menu system. Only PC99 running on
an IBM compatible can offer a similar set of features all in one
package. TI Workshop is by far the best cartridge based disk
manager/sector editor available for the 99/4A and because of that may
be worth the expense for mere mortal 99/4A users as well as
programmers.
--------------------
HALLS OF LOST MORRIA by Michael Veprauskas
This is a Tunnels of Doom game requiring the TOD module. Mr.
Veprauskas wrote it for his children. I know, you are probably
thinking, "Ho hum, yet another TOD game." That is what I thought too
when I was first asked to review Halls. But this game really is
different and enjoyable. My 14 year old son Colin took Halls for a
test drive and really liked it. He has experimented with other TOD
games in our user group library and claims Halls is the best of the
lot.
One thing different about Halls is that it is winable! There is
an end point, and with a little persistance you will get there. Colin
did it in one long afternoon of play. It took me a little longer. I
am an adventure game klutz and here publically confess that I have
not, without aid from cheat books, solved any of the Scott Adams or
Infocom advantures. It is really good for my ego to know that I can
actually solve Halls. In addition to the game file, there is a little
TI BASIC program that lets you know your score based on how many
treasures you collect, how many floors you go down, etc. TI BASIC
lets you run this program without removing the TOD module.
The second thing different about Halls is its documentation. It
is massive and very professionally produced. This is not your usual
on disk short doc file or pile of poorly copied typewritten sheets.
You get an 18 page book with lots of nice black and white graphics
giving you the whole story of Moria, a descritpion of the 10
underground levels, a summary of stats and abilities of the various
types of people in your party, and an extensive glossary of names and
nouns you are likely to encounter in the game. You also get some
"Stat Sheets" to help you keep track of things. You write on the stat
sheets for each adventurer a name, class, hit points, wounds, level,
weapons with their damage and available amo, armor and shield
protection, and magical items. This is a lot of stuff to remember.
Of course you can have the game display this info, but this is a bit
cumbersome. It is really handy to have all these data neatly
organized on a single sheet of paper.
If you want to start your adventure right away there is a
predefined game with predefined adventurers at a predetermined
location described in the user guide. A "Quick Stat Sheet" is
included with the game that lists these predefined adventurers along
with their names, hit points, and class. You just select "Continue
Current Game" from the TOD module menu after you load the game. I
really like this because I am too lazy to construct new dungeons or
restock old ones when starting a new type of TOD game. The predefined
game is the one I finished. You can, of course, make new dungeons and
replay Halls once you solve the predefined game.
Halls of Moria comes on a SSSD disk. It is commercial and
available only from the author for $5. Included, of course, is all
the fancy documentation.
_____________________
Access:
Tex Comp Ltd (for TI Workshop). 425 E. Arrow Hwy #732, Glendora
CA 91740. Voice phone (usually answered by a real live human)
818-339-8924. Fax 818-858-2785.
Michael Veprauskas (for Halls of Lost Moria). 32 Vaillancourt
Dr., New Ipswich NH 03071.
Charles Good (send products for review in this column). P.O. Box
647, Venedocia OH 45894. Voice phone 419-667-3131. Internet email
cgood@osulima1.lima.ohio-state.edu or good.6@osu.edu